An outbreak of Salmonella serotype Typhimurium infections with an unusually long incubation period

Foodborne Pathog Dis. 2012 Mar;9(3):245-8. doi: 10.1089/fpd.2011.0992. Epub 2012 Jan 27.

Abstract

A 1998 investigation of an outbreak of Salmonella serotype Typhimurium infections among children tasting unpasteurized milk during tours of a dairy farm demonstrated a distribution of unusually long incubation periods (median, 8 days; interquartile range [IQR], 6-14 days). Bacterial isolates were highly acid tolerant and contained genes associated with protection against destructive phagocytic reactive oxygen intermediates. We hypothesize that exposure to low-dose oral inoculum of a pathogen with these properties could have contributed to cases of non-typhoidal salmonellosis with the longest incubation period reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

MeSH terms

  • Adolescent
  • Adult
  • Animals
  • Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, U.S.
  • Child
  • Child, Preschool
  • Cohort Studies
  • Dairying / legislation & jurisprudence
  • Disease Outbreaks*
  • Feces / microbiology
  • Humans
  • Hydrogen-Ion Concentration
  • Infant
  • Infectious Disease Incubation Period*
  • Legislation, Food
  • Massachusetts / epidemiology
  • Microbial Viability
  • Middle Aged
  • Milk / microbiology
  • Salmonella Food Poisoning / blood
  • Salmonella Food Poisoning / epidemiology*
  • Salmonella Food Poisoning / microbiology
  • Salmonella typhimurium / genetics
  • Salmonella typhimurium / growth & development
  • Salmonella typhimurium / isolation & purification*
  • Salmonella typhimurium / pathogenicity*
  • United States
  • Young Adult